Dove buddy system works

COLEMAN — Every now and then during one of the state’s most popular outdoor activities, hunters have to cope with a no-show of sky-filling flights of mourning and white-winged doves.

Filling that void of shooting action can be quite a chore — unless your hunting companions are like the members of the Sportsman Club of San Antonio.

“It doesn’t matter if there are any doves or not. We just like to get together to share some good times,” said Alton Moczygemba, one of the founders of the club that was formed in 1996 by a group of outdoor buddies.

“We may not always have any birds to shoot at, but we are always going to eat well.”

Moczygemba was among a handful of Sportsman Club members who traveled about three hours north of San Antonio last week to try out the Central Zone dove hunting opportunities. Members of the club have backgrounds ranging from a cowboy artist and an astronaut to a couple of retired Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologists.

Hosting the gathering was Dick Lowry, a retired high school football coach who has been involved with the Lucky Star Ranch Coleman County Hunting Company since the early 1990s.

The guided hunting operation was a prime location for bobwhite quail in the state for several decades until the bird populations began to decline. It has expanded in recent years to offer dove hunts.

Unfortunately for the Sportsman Club group, a cool front moved through the area the morning before their two-day hunt and most of the doves in the area had migrated to the south.

Reports of bird-free skies in the Central and North Zones were received from all across the Hill Country area and as far north as Amarillo. The fronts typically push local doves south for their fall and winter migration, but can move in birds from Oklahoma, Kansas and points north.

“Opening weekend was good and there were lots of birds here just a couple days ago,” Lowry said. “Now we just aren’t seeing anything, and no northern birds have moved in yet.”

While measuring the gathering by the bird count — only 11 doves bagged by eight hunters in two afternoon hunts — might seem dismal, the quality time factor was high because of the good food and stories shared by the group.

The fare featured fresh fried catfish and redfish one night, complimented by a drunken strawberry shortcake for dessert; and perfectly grilled steaks, plus a dessert of fried apricot pies the second night. Having full bellies inspired talking points ranging from politics to cooking techniques to stories of past hunts and nature lore.

As is often the case when veteran hunters assemble and the evening hour grows late, someone relates a tale that tops all the rest.

With this gathering, a member who probably should remain anonymous modestly described his outdoor expertise displayed during a quail hunt a couple of years ago.

“I was out blue quail hunting and knocked down a bird that I saw hit the ground and flutter in a circle like they sometimes do when they are dying,” he said, sipping from a cup of whiskey and water to help refresh his memory.

“When I got to the spot, I could see an imprint in the dust, but the bird was gone. I could not believe the quail wasn’t right there where it landed.

“That’s when I started looking around and saw a spot of blood about 2 feet from where I was standing. I got on its blood trail and moved from spot to spot tracking it for about 20 feet before I found that bird.”

Even the retired wildlife biologists were impressed, particularly since an average blue quail weighs about 6 ounces and is not known to leave a distinguishable blood trail like a large mammal, such as a wounded white-tailed deer or feral hog.

“He must have eyes like a microscope,” someone muttered after hearing the story.

A tale of quail tracking — now that’s an entertaining way for any group of buddies to celebrate a good time when a hunt is more than just a chance to bag some birds.